


The exy team is nuts: a survival guide for the uninitiated

by Cute Negativity Cloud (Ofelia)



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Compliant, College Life, Dorm Life - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8132155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ofelia/pseuds/Cute%20Negativity%20Cloud
Summary: The exy foxes aren't the only ones who live in the Fox Tower, and the other athletes are equal parts terrified and intrigued by this ragtag bunch of maybe former criminals. It all starts with a whiteboard, a consideration about how friendly Nicky Hemmick actually is written down, and numerous sightings of Kevin Day locked outside his dorm room for mysterious reasons.





	

Or: the Foxes actually aren’t the only ones who live in the athletes’ dorm, and its other denizens are scared.

  
  


After four years living in the Fox Tower - specifically, on the football team’s floor - Amal considered the place his home. He knew which rooms were the cheerleaders’ and which ones were the volleyball team’s, when was the least busy time in the laundry room, which corner of the common room had the best free wi-fi reception.

Just as he knew that the exy team would cause eighty percent of the dorm’s gossip. Not that Amal blamed them for it entirely; the shit that had been pulled on them dove straight into malicious slander (a  _ meth lab _ ? Seriously?).

That said.

The exy foxes had a nack for being nasty, unpredictable, and generally rude. Besides, everyone knew they all came from some troubled background or other, even from juvie. With the baffling exception of Renee, of course, who was either a martyr or hiding something.

It was only natural, then, that as soon as he stepped into Fox Tower at the beginning of the year, Amal met in the lounge with his friends and talked about the troublemakers’ latest news. His football teammate, Rick, proposed a dissertation on whether the stick up Day’s ass had been firmly lodged in place before the accident, or if his career halting so abruptly had shoved it in. Sigourney, in true volleyball attacker fashion, slapped him on the arm and left a nice ruby imprint on the skin. 

“I’d like to see you in his shoes,” she said. “From star player to assistant coach, and to such a troublesome team to booth.”

Rick rolled on the floor, moaning in mock-pain. “I am in his shoes, you broke my arm! My career is over!”

Sigourney’s girlfriend and teammate, Ellen, put a foot on his back and helped him to roll. “Well, he is playing again now,” she said.

“Fat lot of good that did to him. If he doesn’t kill Gordon, he’s going to burst something trying to make that creepy blondie play decently,” Jungeun said, not raising her eyes from the sports magazine open in her lap. 

“Harsh,” Amal said, amused.

Jungeun smirked. “But just,” she said.

“ Talking of blondies, has anyone found a way to tell the twins apart? I swear whenever I think I’m onto them, they wear the same clothes.  _ Again _ ,” Rick bemoaned.

“Your obsession with the twins is creepy,” Sigourney said.

“ _They_ are creepy!”

“You three can be creepy all together now, don’t you worry,” Jungeun mocked him.

Then Ellen dropped the bomb.

“Did you notice their new teammate?” she asked, all fake innocent curiosity.

All eyes were on her, varying degrees of surprise, excitment and worry mixing into them. 

“Because he’s entering right now,” she added, her black eyes shining with mischief.

All heads turned. And sure enough, there he was; a pipsqueak with a swift gait, staring straight ahead, gone in an instant. Amal briefly wondered if whoever picked him did so to let the twins not feel too bad about their height.

That day would enter history as the first time they saw Neil Josten, who still wasn’t the legendary starting striker of the three-times-in-a-row World Champion US Court Team, nor the Slaughterer Of Journalists, nor Amal’s favourite person with the best calculus notes.

“How did I not know about this?” Rick yelled as soon as Josten was out of sight.

“Dude, we’ve been back less than a week,” Sigourney said.

“Exactly! An entire week, and I didn’t notice him!”

“That’s because whenever you cross the exy guys, you look the other way.”

Ricky snorted. “Like you don’t.”

Sigourney shrugged. The exy team was new, and hopeless on the court. It didn’t deliver in any department, and its players were isolationists at best and needlessly confrontational at worst. Everybody likes an underdog, but it was hard to root for a team made up of junkies, fresh-out-of-juvie criminals and former strippers. Plus, they were all on an athletic scholarship like them, but unlike them, they didn’t seem to strive for any kind of achievement. The last match the little group had had the strength to stomach had finished in a brawl between the Foxes. The other team hadn't been even involved.

It was doubtful a single new player was going to change things.

  
  


It started as a joke.

It started with one of the twins dating a cheerleader, actually - Aaron? Amal was pretty sure it was Aaron. He  _ hoped  _ for the poor girl it was Aaron.

Because the Vixens were the closest to the exy players, and around the time the two started dating, they partied together in the basement. 

Which was unprecedented. Some guys in the football team even complained about it. They came to the team and bemoaned this “favoritism”, and the Vixens being too good to the exy team, too driven by pity.

“Guys, fucking reality check,” Jungeun told them. “They won championship. Against the Ravens. They deserve our respect.” 

So the Vixens partied with them. Sometimes. 

And the other athletes were at a loss. Some liked to remember the cold shoulder they had always been given, the cars destroyed by Edgar Allan fans, that one epic fight in the corridor between Josten and the more normal twin (it had obviously been Aaron. No one could survive a fight with the other one). Some others would rather remember how hard the exy team had fought, playing entire games with no reserves, the latest charity drive they all participated in organized by Renee, and holy shit, the final match against Edgar Allan had been nothing short of epic.

There was no consensus on how to deal with them now. Suddenly Day wasn’t a burn-out star; he was a celebrity, with paps hounding him left and right. Suddenly Josten wasn’t a forgettable pipsqueak, he was the runaway son of a vicious mobster, and with the face to show it. Also, every single girl in the Fox Tower had a crush on Dan. 

“Why?” Amal had asked, aghast. 

“Are you shitting me? She dealt with all the sexism thrown at her like a queen, and then she led the team right to first place,” Sigourney had answered.

So it was hard to speak to them. They had gone from having no respect, to being intimidating and unapproachable. 

What started was this: at first, it was a tally.

One night, Ricky stumbled upon Day fuming in front of his own room’s door. As he admitted later, Ricky was tipsy enough to dare to be friendly.

“Aw man, it sucks when it happens,” Ricky told him.

Day raised an eyebrow at him, equal parts appalled at his bold display of friendliness, and surprised at being talked to.

Ricky laughed quietly. “I hate it when a buddy has a girl over too, but what can you do, right? You’re happy he’s getting some, but you also kind of hate it.”

In Ricky’s words, Day looked ‘weird’ when he said that, but didn’t comment.

“That’s life in a dorm for you! Great company, and lots of staring at a closed door! You have to pay them in kind, Day, that’s the only way.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Day said in a rush.

“Right, I guess you have the means to treat your girl right and rent a hotel room, huh? Good for you and her, man.” Having finally found his keys, Ricky opened his own room’s door. He was almost over the threshold when he thought twice about it and bounced back. “How long have you been there, man? You wanna get in, get a beer?”

“No… thank you.”

“All right. I’ll be here if you change your mind though!”

“Okay…”

“Goodnight then!” Ricky said, closing the door behind himself.

When he told the story to his friends the day after, Sigourney slapped him behind the head.

“So reckless! That guy gets along with a convincted felon!” she yelled. “Were you really just tipsy?”

“Ow, okay, I was wasted, let me live!” Ricky said. “But I swear it was weird!”

“Weird how?” Amal asked.

“Well, I didn’t notice then, but he looked shifty.”

“Come think of it, Day shares the room with Josten and Andrew,” Ellen observed.

“The Evil Twin,” Jungeun supplied.

“Rude,” Ellen scolded her, but Jungeun just winked at her. “Anyway, what I mean is: neither of them has a girlfriend that we know of.”

A contemplative moment of silence followed.

“Oh shit,” Ricky said. “Are they doing drugs?”

The group exchanged weary glances.

From that day onward, Ricky and Amal - the ones with the room within talking distance of Day’s - payed extra attention to “the situation”, as they liked to call it. They kept a tally of how many times they found Day locked outside, on which days, which hours. Speculation ran rampant, especially after they roped their teammates in. It probably wasn’t drugs after all. But they never saw any girl either. 

Then Jungeun, the bastard, bought the whiteboard and put it up in the common room.

“So you can keep track of your findings,” she said.

“This is the common room! They’re going to see it!” Amal said.

“Oh please, did you ever see anyone from the exy team in here?”

Which was a fair point.

So they kept the tally.

  
  


1st sighting!! (tue sept 3 rd )

                      hour??

                      dude i dunno, like 2am?

2nd sighting (sun sept 15th 2:35am)

still no girls?

not that i know of, keep looking

3rd (mon sept 30th)

                       we need the hour Ricky!!

                       I DON’T REMEMBER

are we sure someone is even getting some here? 

because if they are, they have a very sad sex life

WHAT IF THE GIRL IS REYNOLDS?

wtf why

SHE’S ALWAYS COZY AND FRIENDLY WITH JOSTEN

I CAN’T ACCEPT IT SHE’S TOO GORGEOUS FOR HIM

1) did you ever saw her hanging around their room late at night?

2) did you LOOK at Josten? I wouldn’t be surprised

4th (tue 8th oct 1:46am)

5th (wed 9th oct 2am...ish)

6th (thu 10th oct 2:11am)

                   WTF Day make Josten respect you!!

I like how you all take it for granted the one getting it is Josten

                   get your married lesbian ass out of this and let a het girl dream

i might be a lesbian but who says i wouldn’t do him?

PLS STOP

                   i am secure in my heterosexuality enough to say that josten is pretty

AMAL NOT YOU TOO BRO

  
  


Then Ellen made her move.

She struck up a conversation with Nicky - admittedly the least threatening of the exy players - and gushed about her wonderful girlfriend, Sigourney Faye, her beautiful black Venus, and did she mention she was  _ such  _ a lesbian? Nicky was positively  _ appalled  _ they hadn’t spoken before, and more than happy to gush about his wonderful German boyfriend, Erik Klose. An hour later Ellen knew everything there was to know about Danielle and Boyd, about Aaron and Katelyn, about the secret texts-based relationship between Renee and Jean Moreau, about Reynold’s summer fling with a French girl in Paris, and wow, Day was dating Theodora Muldani and Ellen was half envious, half impressed.

But that didn’t help in solving the mystery of the closed door.

On a whim, since Nicky had actually been delightful company (if a bit desperate), Ellen added on the whiteboard:

  
  


THE EXY FOXES: USEFUL TIPS

  * Nicky is actually friendly and dying to make new friends. Approach whenever




  
  


And someone apparently did, since a few days later the message was erased and changed to:

  
  


  * Nicky is approachable and friendly most of the time, but steer clear if he’s focusing on his phone as he’s probably texting his bf and is surprisingly rude if interrupted




  
  


And then it just… took a life of its own. The tally on Day’s misery was (mostly) forgotten, but more and more people left their own tips.

  
  


  * Aaron is approachable when in company of his gf or has been with her in the last hour. If not, approach with caution. do not, I repeat do not insult his brother, only he can. Insult Josten that always works

  * Josten is approachable only if you talk about exy. If not, he will stare at you until you go away

  * Do not insult Josten in front of Day, only he can + he WILL make it personal and destroy your athletic form. He KNOWS every little indulgence you take on your meal plan. He KNOWS

  * do not insult Josten within earshot of Nicky. he'll latch onto to you and try to change your mind for hours, possibly days




 

guys why are you all insulting Josten

Jungeun is Josten’s stan

  
  


  * DO NOT BELIEVE JOSTEN WHEN HE SMILES. HE'S FAKING IT. DO NOT APPROACH

  * if you see Josten and Andrew alone DO NOT interrupt them. especially if they’re fighting




 

wtf did they do??

i don’t wanna talk about it

  
  


  * Reynolds is approachable if you’re a girl and aren’t cowering in fear in front of her. Be bold. If you’re a boy: you’ll need balls of steel, a tongue so sharp it could cut a diamond, and no fear. good fucking luck




 

so did anyone ask her if Josten is her bf?

Ricky cut it out

ask her yourself Ricky

r u kidding me i don’t have balls of steel

  
  


  * Matt is friendly, approach at will

  * So are Renee and Dan provided you’re not a douche about it - looking at you, football gentlemen

  * DO NOT INSULT JOSTEN IN ANDREW’S PRESENCE OMG I’M SO DEAD

  * don’t insult Josten, period, the whole fucking team is his protection squad

  * do not make fun of exy in front of any of them

  * please for the love of god DO NOT

  * well maybe you can in front of Andrew, he doesn’t care

  * CORRECTION: HE DOESN’T CARE BUT WILL TATTLE TO NEIL

  * a group of exy foxes is a potentially dangerous thing. approach with caution. there’s an 80% chance they’re going to fight each other




  
  


It was pretty funny, Amal thought. In all his time in the Fox Tower, everybody had pretty much shunned the exy team. Now people were tripping over their own feet in their rush to talk to them.

Until the day they all lost ten years of their lives.

The day Andrew Minyard walked in the common room.

Amal, Ricky, Sigourney, Ellen and Jungeun were all there, together with a handful of other athletes, and a very conspicuous whiteboard covered in… did they count as insults? Was it obvious they were totally friendly? 

They could only watch, frozen, as the 5-foot terror approached the whiteboard. And read it. Or, he probably did; Amal didn’t see any reaction or emotion on his face. No laughter. But no outrage either, so that was… good?

_ Inshallah. _

Andrew stayed still in front of that whiteboard for what felt like two eternities. Then he picked up the marker they all used to write on it. Amal looked in horror as he uncapped it, put it on a pristine patch of white surface…

And scribbled for maybe five seconds at the bottom.

Then he let the marker fall to the floor, turned, and left, not sparing them a glance.

When they turned to the whiteboard again, they read two words.

  
  


pretty accurate

  
  


“Should we erase it?” Ellen asked in a whisper.

“I think he liked it,” Amal said, echoing her reverent whisper.

“What if he tattles to Josten?” Ricky choked out. “What if Josten doesn’t like it?”

“Oh quit it,” Sigourney said. She looked at the top of the whiteboard, where their first observations began. She paused. Then she asked, “Are we seriously not considering the possibility that---”

Amal cut her off. “No. No we’re not.”

“What? What possibility?” Ricky asked.

“No possibility. It would be too weird,” Amal stressed.

“I don’t know, it could be hot.”

“No, Jungeun.”

“Spoilsport.”

  
  
  
  



End file.
